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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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 OPINION 
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Chicken Soup? Computers? Google? Pshaw!

Ephron tackles implications of modern inventions, advice

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(Newser) – Modernity's full of fine inventions and healthy advice, but don't they really make us dimmer, sicker, and less prone to stumble on sex? So writes Nora Ephron in the New York Times, as she opines on hand-washing, breast-feeding, and rumors that chicken soup cures colds. "You have chicken soup; you get the cold anyway," she writes. "So: is it possible that chicken soup gives you a cold?"

And what of computers? They make screenwriting a breeze, "and yet movies are nowhere near as good as they used to be." She admits to loving Google, but wonders if instant answers kill fine conversations, which through their amblings "might get you to sex. This meandering had its charms," she writes. "So: is it possible that Google will mean the end of conversation as we know it?"

Obsessive hand-washing prevents babies from developing immunities and somehow gave writer Nora Ephron memory loss.
Obsessive hand-washing prevents babies from developing immunities and somehow gave writer Nora Ephron memory loss.   (Associated Press)
Chicken noodle soup might actually cause colds, writes Nora Ephron.
Chicken noodle soup might actually cause colds, writes Nora Ephron.   ((c) bucklava)
Writer Nora Ephron thinks there's far too much hand-washing going on in modern society.
Writer Nora Ephron thinks there's far too much hand-washing going on in modern society.   (Getty Images)
Writer Nora Ephron attends the Writers Guild Awards ceremony at the Pierre Hotel in New York City, New York, Saturday March 8, 2003.
Writer Nora Ephron attends the Writers Guild Awards ceremony at the Pierre Hotel in New York City, New York, Saturday March 8, 2003.   (KRT Photos)
Chicken soup, breastfeeding, computers, and hand-washing are perhaps the evils of modern society, writes Nora Ephron.
Chicken soup, breastfeeding, computers, and hand-washing are perhaps the evils of modern society, writes Nora Ephron.   (Getty Images)
Obsessive hand-washing prevents babies from developing immunities and somehow gave Nora Ephron memory loss.
Obsessive hand-washing prevents babies from developing immunities and somehow gave Nora Ephron memory loss.   (KRT Photos)
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Ephron's IMDB biography
IMDB

A review of Ephron's latest essay collection
Florida Times-Union


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